DESCRIPTION:
As a renowned astrophysicist who heads Princeton University's Electric Propulsion and Plasma Dynamics Lab, Edgar Choueiri deals with the likes of NASA, the Air Force and the Department of Energy. But lately, he's being feted by a very different group of people: audiophiles. A lover of classical and jazz music, Choueiri has used his mathematical expertise to explore the world of "3D audio" -- sound that brings out the spatial cues in a recording that tell us where the sounds are coming from. It was all just a hobby for Choueiri until he scored a grant from Project X, a fund that encourages researchers at the university to explore unconventional ideas, often in fields outside their own. (Video by Nyier Abdou/The Star-Ledger)